People often ask me what books they should read. Infrastructure, project management, business management… I have a few that could definitely help you. But let me tell you something. Those who read a lot can teach a lot. Those who have done a lot can teach even more. That’s why I’ve always tried to surround myself with people with stripes. With scars. With little hair left. With dark circles under their eyes from fighting too many battles. And they also had to meet one more requirement… They...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Yesterday a few of you came with a question… If we prefer a good narrative to the truth, does it apply to PPPs? Absolutely. PPP includes the words Private and Public. This is meat for bored politicians and newspapers. You have conflicting words… Add Partnership and journalists queue to hit you in the face. No matter what statistics say. No matter how many successful projects have been delivered through a PPP. No matter the risk profiles, the alignment of the parties, the governance… that PPP...
2 days ago • 1 min read
You know that many people are terrified of flying. However, they have no problem travelling by car, even though we all know that, statistically, planes are much safer than cars. Well… welcome to the base rate neglect. Our brain ignoring boring statistics and overvaluing vivid stories. That’s it. We constantly hear statistics about road accidents. But… When there is an aviation tragedy… well… you know what happens. Vivid memories. We like to believe we are purely rational beings making...
3 days ago • 1 min read
My son is now obsessed with rockets. He wants to go to the moon. Good for him. We’ll get there very soon… again. If you don’t know the story of Apollo 13, you should pay attention… because it has lessons for you too. NASA did not become NASA because everything went perfectly. Quite the opposite. Rockets exploded. Calculations failed. Systems broke. People died. And every time something went wrong, they did one thing better than almost anyone else: They learned. Apollo 13 is the famous...
4 days ago • 1 min read
The Spanish did not conquer Peru only with steel, horses, and ambition. They also arrived with something much more powerful. Lessons learned. Before Peru, there was Mexico. Before Pizarro, there was Cortés. Before Atahualpa, there was Moctezuma. The Spanish had already seen what worked. They had seen how alliances with local enemies could change the entire game. They had seen how psychological pressure could be more powerful than numbers. They had seen how confusion, speed, diplomacy,...
5 days ago • 1 min read
If your team spends more time on format than content… Your company… Your project… Your leadership… Has a problem. A big one. “Not professional.” “Not following the brand guidelines.” “My boss will not approve it.” “My client will not approve it.” Trust me. A well-written, well-structured memo in a blank Word document with no logo can do maravillas. The fanciest PowerPoint with no substance only does one thing: It extends useless meetings at a rate of 6 minutes per slide. Minimum. The excuses...
6 days ago • 1 min read
I haven’t been involved in disputes or claims lately. I gave that up. Entirely. The reason? Nobody wins. No matter how well you do it, one side ends up unhappy. Sometimes both. And unhappy endings are not my cup of tea. I prefer to focus on preventing misunderstandings, disputes, and nasty claims before they happen. Because it is possible. It is feasible. And in many cases, you can create those conditions by design. How? By understanding the good, the bad, and the ugly. What works. What...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Some people are working in a disaster project. But they don’t know it. Because they have never seen a good one. They think delays are normal. Claims are normal. Meetings with 23 people and zero decisions are normal. A contractor sending 17 notices before breakfast is normal. A client changing its mind every Thursday is normal. 50 notices being exchanged at 4:50pm on Friday is normal. A SPV board asking “where are we with this?” every month is normal. No, my friend. That is not normal. That is...
8 days ago • 1 min read
There are two kinds of people. The complainers. And the people who have no time to complain. A few years ago, I became one of the founders of a start-up in Panama. Camarounds. Think of it as an Uber for services. Electricians. Technicians. Bricklayers. Plumbers. Maintenance people. The kind of people you need when something breaks and suddenly your life becomes a small Latin American tragedy. Yes. I like exploring. I like investing. I like trying things. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it...
9 days ago • 1 min read